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Inspectors 'angry' over lack of training
- Article Tools
| 12 May 2005 |
By Patrick Gower
Training for some newly promoted inspectors is so poor they have resorted to using a laminated 'idiot's guide' to steer them through their review prisoners' detention in police custody.
The officers feel 'angry, vulnerable and pressured' by their lack of training, according to a survey by the Police Federation of England and Wales, who fear their members could end up being charged with manslaughter after a death in custody.
Bob Kitchen, chairman of the Police Federation of England and Wales' Inspectors' Central Committee, said the committee commissioned the survey because of concerns about a change in the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 (PACE) last year that allowed inspectors to review a prisoner's continued detention over the telephone.
Mr Kitchen said that the results, received from inspectors in 25 of the 43 English and Welsh forces, were 'absolutely frightening'.
'My greatest fear is that somebody will die in custody, an inspector with inadequate training will be to blame, and that inspector will end up in the dock on a manslaughter charge.'
Mr Kitchen revealed that the survey indicated that few inspectors had been given formal training for PACE reviews. Instead many were self-taught or they had received advice through mentoring programmes.
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